This invention is directed to a programming interface for developing and running network management application programs written in an object-oriented language having object class definitions, on a network communication infrastructure wherein the application programs manipulate managed objects that are specified according to the GDMO/ASN.1 ISO standards and are made available at remote management agents through the communication infrastructure. Beyond this it relates to methods for mapping from Guidelines for Definition of Managed Objects (GDMO) templates and Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) defined types into the C++ language and a platform for the implementation of the interface.
OSI network management applications and CCITT Telecommunication Management Network (TMN) applications are based on the ability to manipulate managed objects which are specified in GDMO/ASN.1 and which are made available at remote management agents through a communication infrastructure.
Currently, XMP/XOM from the X/Open [X/Open XMP] is the only standardized API to the communication infrastructure for management applications. XMP/XOM is cumbersome to use. XMP/XOM based applications are lengthy and difficult to write, understand and debug. Furthermore XMP/XOM does not allow for static (compile time) type checking, so that many type errors show up at run-time. Therefore most programmers certify that using XMP/XOM is cumbersome and time consuming. Implementers of network management applications are thus confronted with the user unfriendliness of the XMP/XOM interface.
In order to promote code quality and reusability more and more applications are written in the object-oriented programming language C++. Even though management information is defined in the object-oriented specification language GDMO, XMP/XOM uses the C language.
Further, managed objects are formally specified in GDMO and ASN.1. Development tools that support GDMO and ASN.1 can thus drastically reduce the development time of network management applications. Therefore a demand for a C++ embedding to hide the intricacies of XMP/XOM and GDMO based tools to support the development of OSI management applications is ascertainable.
The development of applications within the OSI management framework [ISO 10040] is a rather complex undertaking. The estimated costs for the development of new applications support this perception. In order to boost the development process, additional support by higher-level interface and corresponding tools is required.